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A family row that developed into a televised debate in Saudi Arabia has ended
in disaster for a young activist now facing seven years in jail and 600
lashes as the kingdom maintains its crackdown against online dissent.

Raif Badawi, the 30-year-old founder of a liberal website, has been sentenced
by a court in Jeddah, convicted of insulting Islam and denouncing the
kingdom’s feared religious police. A charge of apostasy, that could have
carried the death penalty, was dropped.

Tacked on to those offences was a charge of “parental disobedience”, stemming
from a bitter dispute between Mr Badawi and his